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Saturday, August 24, 2013

Vixen In Vegas by Emma Nichols

It was supposed to be a week of simply being, of living in the moment, and enjoying every minute while it lasted. Of course, that kind of intoxication can have lingering effects. For Sin, she found herself wanting to break all the rules, to extend her time with the stranger who stole her heart. Vegas was just the right kind of place to take such a gamble. Meeting up with BE at the gondolas was a risk. Love went against everything they had promised, but the best things in life can't be planned.

Soon Alysin will be tested.

After guarding her heart for so long, she finally let a man in and discovered that the worst things in life happened when she least expected them. When she walked in on BE with another woman and overheard their heated conversation, she suddenly remembered there was a reason she made these rules.

Will broken rules lead to broken hearts or will she realize that though love was a gamble, she was all in?

How else was she going to parlay her two favorite past times into a career?

Emma is single and loving it. Like her first character, Alysin, Sin for short, she doesn't believe in settling or in settling down. She loves to indulge in her passions whenever the mood strikes and enjoys keeping all of life's cliche moments spicy.

Known for her sense of humor, Emma surrounds herself with friends whose antics often become the source of book fodder. Her ideal situation would be to explore the Caribbean while writing. She pursues that dream daily.

Excerpt:The water was just starting to boil when my phone rang. I rushed to the bedroom because…well, how often does a phone ring jut after 4am? It could be an emergency. It could be a prank call. Or, according to the picture that glowed on my screen, it could be Jolie calling to cheer me up. That warmed me instantly.“Hey, girl,” I said, all out of breath from my sprint for the phone. You may recall, I am not a jogger.“Hey, sexy,” he breathed into the phone.It took me a minute to process just whom I was speaking to. Then the tears started. Actually, it was more of a waterfall effect. Then came the snot. “Oh my god! It’s YOU! And you’re on Jolie’s phone!” I started sniffling while I wiped away the tears and tried my best to hold myself together.“Yes, babe. It’s me. Jolie called me. It’s a three way. You know. Again,” he joked.I giggled.“Are you crying?” He asked concerned.“No,” I lied. “Must be a cold.”“Good, I don’t want you crying, especially when I can’t be there to comfort you.” He spoke soothingly into the phone and it reminded me of all those nights snuggled in his arms, talking, and making love. “What’s going on? One day apart and you’ve already decided not to meet me?” He asked.My chest constricted. It hurt so much. My voice caught in my throat. “I don’t know how to do this. I’ve never done this before,” I whispered hoarsely.“What? You’ve never made plans a week in advance? You’ve never moved?” He asked questions he already knew the answers to just to make me think.“I’ve never been in love,” I admitted. “I’m scared of losing me to be with you.” I was silent after that admission. It took a lot for me to share that.“Well, if it makes you feel any better…I don’t make a habit of falling in love. I tried it once. It didn’t go the way I expected. I’ve been a little gun shy ever since. For you, I’d take a bullet. You are a once in a lifetime kind of love,” he said quietly. “Promise me,you’ll meet me.”This conversation was what I needed. Jolie had found the perfect way to soothe my soul and settle my nerves. No wonder she was my BFF. “Hmmm. I suppose I could promise you,” I began playfully, “but what good are promises with you? Here we are, talking on the phone…”“I’ll have you know I thought this through. I’ve broken no rules.You don’t have my name or my contact information. Jolie does. So there.” He chuckled at his own cleverness.I couldn’t help but laugh. “And you think this information is safe with Jolie? You think I couldn’t get it from her if I wanted?” I asked.His deep sexy voice responded, “Yes, that is precisely what I think. Jolie loves you. Jolie even seems to be rather fond of me and she thinks we make a phenomenal couple. So let’s stick to our rules for now. And when I see you on Saturday, you’ll discover what a big, bad rule breaker I am. Just wait for me until then. If one of us needs to, we have Jolie to reach out for us.” He was silent for a moment. So was I as I considered all he had said. “I love you, baby,” he said. “Saturday, I’ll be waiting for you.”“Saturday,” I murmured. “I’m going to rock your world.”“Babe,” he said seriously, “you already have.”

So Mimi and Scooby took the opportunity to review Vixen in Vegas on behalf of the Bad Girls Team. Keep reading to see what their thoughts were!Mimi

This is the first Emma Nichols novel I have read. I enjoyed the premise & storyline quite a bit. It is a tale of romance that will have you laughing, cheering & praying for the characters, BE & Sin. I found out there is a prequel novella to this that I haven't read but did understand most of the plot to "Vixen in Vegas". I do recommend reading "Sin at Sea" first to have a better understanding.

Sin (Alysin) & her BFF, Jolie have just returned home from a week long cruise. While on the cruise Sin meets a man, BE, who sweeps her off her feet & they fall in love. Sin lives in Raleigh, NC. BE lives in California & he is everything a man should be. Sin has spent her life running from love & relationships with men. BE seems to be perfect, someone she could spend her life with. Even though they know very little about one another, including names, they decide to spend another week together, this time in Vegas.

Sin & Jolie have been friends since high school & spent the last ten years moving every few years. It was time for a move, Vegas was as good a place as any other. So Sin places her house on the market & storage in PODS, the girls take a trip across the country to meet up with BE. He is waiting for Sin in Vegas where they spend the week getting to know one another. This is where the plot unfolds into an emotional & touching story. BE asks Sin to spend a few days at his Cali home where his sister, Brenda also lives. The couple falls further in love with one another only to find there is a threat that could separate them forever. As I neared the end of the story I thought there may be a cliffhanger or there would be a tragically abrupt ending. I did find it to be a bit rushed & would have like to have had more meat to the end. Oh well, maybe there will be another to come.

I enjoyed the novel as there was plenty of steamy sex but not without endearing love scenes.

So I mistakenly read this story thinking it was a standalone. I was 70% into the read when I discovered there was a prologue Novella. Now I don’t know if that was my poor preparation or being a little misled by the description on Goodreads. What I need to say at the outset is DO NOT READ ‘VIXEN IN VEGAS’ WITHOUT READING ‘SIN AT SEA’ FIRST. This is vitally important. If you don’t heed this advice Vixen in Vegas will barely make sense to you as you read it.

Ok so having read Vixen in Vegas first, this review will seem somewhat critical, but I hope that these insights are seen as constructive. These are the elements that to me, would limit the author’s audience reach.

It took over 1 ½ Chapters for me to learn the name of the main character, and about as long (maybe not quite as long) to figure out her gender. The book picks up with the main character, who I eventually learned was Alysin, Sin for short, and her BFF Jolie preparing to move to Las Vegas, with the intention of Sin meeting up with a mystery man she had met on a cruise known as BE. At no point in the book do I learn what BE stood for, but gee it was lucky that it was also his initials, unbeknownst to Sin. Ben Everly is the lead man in this story, but we don’t learn his name until sometime later.

So Sin and BE have met on a week-long cruise where they spent the week living in the moment and being fake married. There were rules of their relationship, however, these were not spelt out in Vixen in Vegas, except it became clear that they did not know each other’s names, nor did they have contact details for each other. BE however, did have Jolie’s contact number so he could keep in touch with Sin without breaking the rules.

Essentially Vixen in Vegas is Sin and BE’s story of how they reach their HEA. It is a journey not without obstacles with significant life decisions having to be made. I cannot say too much more as this would mean spoilers and you will need to read Vixen in Vegas yourself to see how it unfolds. What can be said is that Sin has a reputation for running away whenever her heart becomes involved, so the personal journey she goes on to trust and love is huge one.

Unfortunately with or without having read Sin at Sea, the writing style of Vixen in Vegas did not do it for me. I struggled to feel the emotion that was intended with this story, and I found this story so cliché that I didn’t believe it, nor could the author do the elements of this story justice in a book this length (Amazon has it at approx. 220pgs). There is so much thrown into this tale that in order for it to be felt it needed much more time to develop and be explored. The sex scenes also did not do it for me either, I think it was the style of writing rather than the intent, but it didn’t ‘float my boat’.

I would give Vixen in Vegas

Now….

Having read Sin at Sea, if I had read them in order, the issues I found lacking in Vixen in Vegas would still have existed, but I would have understood the dynamics so much more. The questions that I had been asking all through Vixen in Vegas, I would have had the answers. Sin at Sea very clearly explained how the relationship came to be, what the rules were, and how they fell in love. So when in Vixen they kept mentioning renegotiating their agreement, at least I would have known what the agreement was!!

Sin at Sea is approx. 114 pages, it has HOT sex scenes (including F/F, F/F/M and F/F/M/M) and it has an emotional ability to connect with the reader. Unfortunately it almost seems like the two stories were written by different people, their style was that different.

I understand that the two stories do have significantly different premises, Sin at Sea is about a rebound relationship with no strings so anything goes, and Vixen in Vegas is about taking that relationship, adding the strings, and throwing in the emotion of a real loving relationship. However, the similar elements (ie: the sex, the dynamics between Sin and Jolie, and Sin and BE) were so far removed from each other, it made no connection for me in Vixen.

That said, if you were to read them in order, and in quick succession you may very well have as positive experience with Vixen as I did with Sin at Sea.